Underworld: Evolution
Underworld: Evolution is the sequel to Underworld, taking place less than thirty minutes after the end of the first film. The next film in release order is the prequel, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. The story after Evolution continues in Underworld: Awakening. It is the second (chronologically, the third) film in the ''Underworld'' series. Plot The movie opens in the year 1202 A.D., in which an army led by three Vampire Elders (Marcus Corvinus, Viktor and Amelia) arrives at a ravaged village. The Vampire army is attacked by Werewolves, and a bloody battle erupts. In the melee, Viktor and Amelia capture Marcus's twin brother William, the first and most powerful Werewolf. Viktor orders that he be imprisoned in a secret location forever, kept far away from Marcus. The story then continues to the present day timeline, starting immediately after the events of the first film. The Vampiress Selene takes Hybrid Michael Corvin to a Vampire safe house so that she can return to the Vampire mansion and confront Kraven, the traitor responsible for Amelia's death. However, the blood of a dead Lycan named Singe has already awakened Marcus, who has become a powerful Hybrid from the Lycan blood. Marcus attacks Kraven, and learns from his Blood Memories that Viktor lied to him about the night Selene became a Vampire. Marcus then proceeds to wipe out the entire remnant of Kraven, his men, and the mansion as retribution for Viktor's treachery. He learns Selene and Michael's location from camera surveillance of various safe houses and leaves to track them down. When confronted by Marcus for the murder of Viktor, Selene defends her actions, and Marcus agrees that Viktor got what he deserved. However, he believes Selene is hiding something and attacks her, but Michael intervenes and protects her. Marcus tries and fails to get hold of the pendant that the two have in their possession. They escape and seek refuge in an abandoned warehouse, where Michael cares for Selene and they make love. Marcus, meanwhile, retreats to a stable to feed and recover from his wounds. Meanwhile, Lorenz Macaro, an elderly and imposing man, sends in a team of Cleaners to investigate the aftermath from the final battle in the Lycan lair. When Macaro examines Viktor's body, he finds a metal disk attached to his rib cage just below the skin of his chest similar to Sonja's pendant, which Selene and Michael now possess. Now knowing that the pendant is of some importance to Marcus, Michael and Selene set out to solve its mystery. Selene recalls that she'd seen it as a child, but doesn't know its significance. To find answers, they travel to the hideout of Andreas Tanis, who is an exiled Vampire historian and old enemy of Selene, as she was the one who exiled him. After dispatching the various Lycans and Vampires guarding Tanis, they confront him and discover that Tanis had been secretly trading Vampire-killing weapons with the Lycans. They force him to tell them as much as he can. Tanis reveals that Marcus was the first Vampire, not Viktor, who had maintained the illusion that he was the eldest of the species. One of the two sons of Alexander Corvinus, he was bitten by a bat, and became a Vampire; his twin brother, William Corvinus, was bitten by a wolf and became a Werewolf. Unlike later Lycans, William and the Werewolves created by him are entirely animal and unable to take human form again. Due to William's wanton destructiveness, Marcus approached Viktor, a warlord, as he was dying of old age, and offered to turn him and his army into immortal Vampires in exchange for tracking down and stopping William. Marcus intended to capture his brother and tame him, but Viktor betrayed Marcus and ordered William locked away forever. Viktor is ultimately falsely regarded as the "oldest and strongest" of the Vampires and is happy to assume this role with both William and Marcus in hibernation. He does not kill the brothers because he believes doing so would result in the immediate extinction of all other Vampires and Lycans. Tanis also reveals that Selene's father was the architect who built William's prison and that the pendant is its key. Viktor thought that her family knew too much about its location, and subsequently killed and fed on them, and then turned Selene into a Vampire, as she reminded him of his deceased daughter, Sonja. Tanis then refers Selene and Michael to Lorenz Macaro, stating he can help stop Marcus. Shortly after they leave, Marcus arrives and questions Tanis. He bites him to absorb his memories, draining him of all his blood in the process and killing him. Selene and Michael go see Lorenz Macaro, whom Selene realizes is actually Alexander Corvinus, Marcus and William's father and the oldest of the Immortals. He reveals he has devoted his life to containing the Vampire-Lycan War to keep it from escalating into the mortal world. However, he refuses to help kill Marcus, as Marcus is his son. Their debate is stopped when Marcus attacks the boat. He learns the location of William's hidden prison by drinking Selene's blood after supposedly killing Michael and proceeds to wound Alexander to obtain the other half of the pendant. Marcus reveals that he wishes to become a god and rule a race of Hybrids. Once Marcus has left, Selene speaks with Alexander and he has her drink his blood, stating that by doing so she will become 'the future'. Selene leads the Cleaners to the prison to confront and destroy Marcus, but they arrive too late and find that Marcus has already freed William. A violent battle ensues, which Selene and the Cleaners seem to be losing. Michael, apparently dead and in a body-bag, suddenly regenerates and joins the fight. Transformed into his Hybrid Lycan/Vampire state, Michael ultimately kills William while Selene fights and kills Marcus. It is at this point that Selene's eyes turn from Vampire blue to pure white, before reverting to the former color. They are the only beings left alive as daylight arrives and sunlight streams into the cavern from overhead. Selene is not harmed by the ultraviolet light, however, and stands in the full daylight unaffected. As the film ends, Selene narrates that she fears dark days are ahead and the lines between the species have become blurred, but states that she is at least optimistic that she won't have to face the future alone. Cast * Kate Beckinsale and Lily Mo Sheen as Selene * Scott Speedman as Michael Corvin * Tony Curran as Marcus Corvinus * Derek Jacobi as Alexander Corvinus * Steven Mackintosh as Andreas Tanis * Brian Steele as William Corvinus * Bill Nighy as Viktor * Zita Görög as Amelia * Shane Brolly as Kraven * Michael Sheen as Lucian * John Mann as Samuel * Andrew Kavadas as Selene's Father Narrations Beginning of the film: "For six centuries, I was a loyal soldier of the Vampire clan; but I was betrayed. The war was not as it had seemed. In one night, the lies that had united our kind had been exposed. Kraven, our second in command, had formed a secret alliance with Lucian, ruler of the Werewolf clan, to overthrow Viktor, our leader. But Kraven's lust for power and domination had failed. Viktor was not the savior I had been led to believe; he had betrayed us all. Soon, the hunt will be on for his killer. I have but one ally left; Michael, the human descendant of Corvinus. Neither Vampire nor Lycan, but a Hybrid. It's only a matter of time before we're found. My only hope now is to awaken Marcus, our last remaining Elder, and expose the truth, before Kraven tries to murder him while he's still in hibernation. Kraven knows he's no match for him awake." End: "An unknown chapter lies ahead. The lines that had divided the Clans have now been blurred. Chaos and infighting are inevitable. All that is certain is that Darkness is still ahead. But for now, for the first time, I look into the light with new hope." Production Filming took place in Vancouver, Canada, and is somewhat of a departure from the settings of Underworld, which was filmed almost exclusively in Budapest, Hungary. Evolution also had a much larger budget than the first film. It was originally set to be released in late 2005, however it was delayed until in the United States. Reception The film was not well received by critics, as indicated by its low approval rating of 16% overall on Rotten Tomatoes, though it scored 77% with "RT Community" viewers, enough to give it a "fresh" rating among non-critics. Like the first film this movie has been popular with cinema-goers and developed a cult following, yet has very poor reviews from critics. A few scenes of the film were shown in a panel at Comic-Con in San Diego, in July 2005, however these scenes did not contain any plot spoilers of the new script, with attendees only being informed about the new Hybrids by production designer Patrick Tatopoulos. The previewing was well received as hundreds of fans waited hours to see a clip of the film as well as Kate Beckinsale and the other stars of the movie. The film opened on 3,207 screens with a weekend box office (January 20–22, 2006) of $26.9 million or an average of $8,388 per theater. As of , the film grossed a total of $62.3 million in the United States box office and $111.3 million worldwide. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on and has so far grossed $49.09 million in rental sales. Soundtrack The soundtrack was released on by Lakeshore Records and contains music that was mostly not written for the film, unlike the first movie's soundtrack. Score Underworld: Evolution Original Score is the musical soundtrack for Underworld: Evolution. It contains music scored by Marco Beltrami, and was released on . Trivia * Underworld and Underworld: Evolution were originally all one script, which had to be divided into two in order to fit time and budget constraints, with the intention of making the second half of the script into a second film if the first film became a hit. * When Kraven leads his remaining men down into the crypt, two of them are wearing the same gear as Death Dealers. Either this is a production goof, two surviving Death Dealers defected to Kraven's team, or perhaps Kraven had some of his enforcers infiltrate the Death Dealers for insider information. * According to the filmmaker's commentary, the film was first supposed to open with a flashback to the night Selene's family was murdered by Viktor, before showing the flashback of the night of William Corvinus's capture, but because of time constraints, it had to be left out. However, snippets of it do appear in the final film. The scene is used as the prologue in the novelization by Greg Cox. * Actor Tony Curran (Marcus) stipulated in his contract that he wanted to be able to keep his Vampire fangs in at all times, even when he wasn't filming. * This is the only film in the Underworld series so far that the music wasn't composed by Paul Haslinger, who did the score for Underworld. He was replaced by Marco Beltrami, who director Len Wiseman wanted because he was impressed with his score on I, Robot. Haslinger was brought back for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and Underworld: Awakening. * The girl who plays young Selene is Lily Sheen, Kate Beckinsale and Michael Sheen's daughter. * Scott Speedman has stated that the love scene between him and Kate Beckinsale "sucked" and it felt very awkward. Quotes This film has a quotes category. See also * ''Underworld: Evolution'' (novel) * ''Underworld: Evolution'' (comic) * [[Weaponry of Underworld: Evolution|Weaponry of Underworld: Evolution]] External links * [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401855/ Underworld: Evolution at IMDb] Videos Underworld Evolution Trailer|Trailer Underworld Evolution - Behind The Scenes|Visual effects, behind the scenes Gallery es:Underworld: Evolution fr:Underworld : Evolution ru:Другой мир: Эволюция pl:Underworld Ewolucja de:Underworld: Evolution pt-br:Anjos da Noite - A Evolução Category:Films Category:Underworld: Evolution